Ramen Nagi for my birthday

I know it's been __ months overdue, but I still wanna post this for good times' sake. <3

yay flowers! <3

It was my birthday when we tried Ramen Nagi in Greenbelt. I've been looking forward to check them out weeks before their opening, and indeed it was a great experience. J asked me where I want to dine in, and just went there after I learned that they were already open.

Ramen Nagi has this setup: wooden chairs and tables are meant for sharing, and we wouldn't mind sharing our seats with the people who also dined in. Japanese posters accentuates the wooden walls, with fluorescent lights in every table. Place is a bit loud but tolerable, but I think it depends on the number of customers dining in.

The menu and our choices

problemado ka boy? :P

Menu is composed of five ramen choices: Butao King, Black King, Red King, Green King and the Limited King – Ramen that is only available for a limited time (hence the name). Every Ramen being chosen can be customized according to preference, and here's what we ordered.

apologies for the inverted photo T_T

Ramen Nagi also offers side dishes and curry rice on their menu, so yay for rice!

Condiments are also being offered on each table: pepper, crushed sesame, himalayan salt, garlic and many more.

We ordered Chicken Karaage (for sharing), Butao King (for me) and Black King (for him. Servings are indeed huge for us, and the karaage can be shared for three.

The Butao King that I has this very rich broth in which I really love. I like the fact that's garlicky (if there's such term) that adds spice in it, added to that is that delicious chunks of pork added to my ramen. Another thing I like is the firmness of the noodles that's really right to my taste. the shoulder part of the pork has more fat in it, but it’s chewy and I liked it.

The Black King that Jayvee ordered is also commendable, I will definitely order this if I'll be coming back. The soup base is more on the sweet side, I would’ve added an extra spice and garlic to enhance to taste more (if it’s for me). The belly pork is more on the leaner side, cut into strips for chewing pleasure.

Their Chicken Karaage is done just right, it was light, crispy and delectable, perfect with or without the sauce.

Our experience with Ramen Nagi is different from our usual foodtrips: we were given a chance to customize our ramen, and now that we tried it we wanna come back to have our ramen, OUR way.

Well of course we also wanna come back to try their other Ramen specialties! :)

Ramen Nagi

Level 2, Greenbelt 3, Ayala Center, Makati City

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Pinac Heirloom Kapampangan Cuisine: Delectable Kapampangan dishes at its finest

Jayvee and I love homecooked meals. We share the same love for food (the main reason why this blog was created) and we're glad that we were invited for the Supreme business solutions product launch (review on my blog here) and also for the food tasting at Pinac Kapampangan Cuisine.

Situated at the UP Town Center, Pinac offers a wide array of heirloom kapampangan dishes that surely hits the spot on our hearts and bellies. Added to that is the homey feel of the restaurant itself.

Light blue wallpapers helps light up the place and made it cozy, while tables and chairs used, and also the wooden doors gave it a modern rustic feel. I also liked the paintings displayed for it gives color and liveliness to the whole place.

I've heard great reviews about Pinac and their reputation of creating heirloom dishes. Indeed, everything is mouthwatering and delicious, and here are my reviews on some of their dishes:

Pinac's Appetizer platter that is composed of pork sisig, calamares, hito balls, lumpiang ubod, wanton paper, lettuce, and its additional condiments is a perfect sample of what they had to offer for us: We were all in awe on the hito balls, where it was best eaten when being wrapped in lettuce and added buro to taste. The hito balls alone were amazing, and adding buro to the dish gives it a unique texture and flavor without any hint of a musky smell that is common to the burong hipon.

I also liked the lumpiang ubod, the mix of veggies that is already mixed with their signature peanut sauce is something that I would eat, especially in times where I needed to lose more weight. I'd rather eat it alone than being mixed with the lumpia wrapper that is separated from the dish.

I could only wish that they had more sisig in their appetizer platter. Jayvee and I loved sisig, and we want more. And in a way, their calamares is somewhat common for all of us. But I had to admit that thy gave huge servings (and slices) for us, so yay pa rin!

I like the fact that their soup dish, the Sinigang na ulo ng mayamaya can be customized according to taste by adding miso to the dish. This is nice if you like your sinigang to have a mild or sour taste.

Their Crispy Pata is made to perfection! The dish alone is made for sharing. The crispy skin and meat just falls of the bone, dip it with the soy sauce/vinegar combo and the generous serving of rice and you're good to go.

Pinac's Kare kare is one for the books. It has this distinct nutty taste because of the roasted rice used in making the peanut sauce, served with generous servings of meat and fresh veggies. It is indeed a standout of them all.

This unusual combo of suman, tsokolate and mangga is something that I am not accustomed of, but Jayvee told me that it's the usual dessert staple from the provinces. One thing I noticed is that the suman is coated with sugar (which I really liked), the tsokolate is a bit bland for my taste and good thing that the mangoes and really fresh! I only ate the fresh mangoes and suman, while Jayvee and our fellow foodies like the trio combo.

We had a great experience here at Pinac! Indeed a great place to dine in and have a taste of Kapampangan cuisine. Definitely worth the visit!

Pinac Heirloom Capampangan Cuisine 

2/F UP Town Center, Katipunan Ave., Loyola Heights, Quezon City

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